BURLINGTON — The School Board has signaled it is looking for a new superintendent with experience working in a diverse district to take the helm when Yaw Obeng leaves his position in June.
The search has narrowed to three candidates who had the chance to answer questions at a forum at Burlington High School Thursday night.
The three finalists are Peter Burrows, superintendent of the Addison Central School District in Addison County; Thomas Flanagan, chief academic officer of Providence, Rhode Island, public schools; and Erin Maguire, director of equity, diversity and Inclusion for the Essex Westford School District.
School board members Martine Gulick and Kendra Sowers, who co-chaired the search committee, said that the ideal candidate would have a number of qualities including strong communication skills, financial experience, instructional expertise and leadership skills. Gulick also said cultural competency is key for the position.
“Given the amount of new Americans we have in our district, the diversity we have in our district, the languages that are spoken, the various religions that are practiced, we just felt we needed someone who is really culturally competent and who will also be able to infuse that into our curriculum,” Gulick said.
The search process has been extensive. The school board hired executive recruitment firm McPherson & Jacobson to conduct a national search, which yielded 24 applications. The recruiters held community forums and solicited feedback from teachers, parents and students. Candidates then toured the district and met with teachers and students at the high school.
Thursday’s forum offered one last chance for the public to give feedback to the school board, which Sowers said is poised to make a final decision next week. Roughly 130 people attended the event, held in the high school’s auditorium, and each person received a blue card on which to provide feedback and indicate a favorite candidate.
At the forum, candidates entered one at a time and had half an hour to answer the same six questions asked by members of the community. In addition to asking candidates about instructional and financial experience, several of the questions centered around leading a diverse district. Part of the conversation was aimed at determining how candidates would tackle the achievement gap between students of different backgrounds.
All three candidates spoke about closing the achievement gap by instituting district-wide systems and ensuring teachers have the resources and professional development they need.
Maguire, who has a background in special education, said her experience working to make the Essex Westford district more equitable and inclusive will help her tackle this issue in Burlington.
“I really lead from a place of social justice and believe strongly that all voices matter both to me and should matter to each other,” she said. “It’s really important that we think about our own bias and our own life circumstances that cause us to see the world the way we see it. I also think it’s important for students to see themselves in their curriculum and make really strong connections regardless of their identity.”
Flanagan drew on his experience as the deputy chief of specialized instruction in Washington, D.C., in answering several of the panel’s questions. He said his experience showed him the “importance of fighting for equity across systems” and of fighting against historical oppression.
He spoke about his work to integrate students with disabilities into general education classrooms, and involving families from marginalized communities in district planning processes.
“Oftentimes families who are marginalized get listened to the least and so I would make sure that I am listening to all families,” he said. “I think it would be really helpful for the district to engage in deep work around race and equity and power and privilege and the way that plays out in the schools. People have to be willing to enter into those conversations. … I would also want to do some work around culturally relevant teaching practices as a part of a strategy to ensure there was some alignment and continuity of instructional practices across all schools.”
Burrows said the diversity in Burlington is part of why he is interested in a possible move from Addison County.
“To close the achievement gap we have to acknowledge and realize that a student’s life is not just in school, it’s outside of school too,” he said. “Student wellness and student social and emotional health and well being is critical. They cannot learn and they cannot access learning if they are not feeling whole and good.”
Despite the national search, two of the three finalists currently work in Vermont. Gulick and Sowers underlined that the two were clearly among the strongest candidates, but did point to some challenges when looking nationwide.
“Especially on the East Coast if you look at places like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, superintendents there make a lot more money, to be perfectly honest,” Gulick said. “So it would be hard to attract people from those areas, from those districts.”
Obeng’s annual salary was approximately $160,000 in 2019. A survey by the School Superintendents Association released in February of nearly 1,300 superintendents showed that average pay ranged from $117,500 to $338,709.
Gulick said there is also a shortage of superintendents in the U.S., which presents challenges in finding a qualified candidate.
“It’s a hard job, and it’s become harder,” Gulick said. “Education has become a one-stop shop for a myriad of social programs that do everything from feed children to provide dental care to kids, to provide mental health services. I mean it is a really complicated job.”
Sowers said that all three finalists seem to be really passionate about their work, which is a good sign as the board decides which to hire.
“We have candidates who want to live here and be here for the long haul,” she said. “We’re one of the biggest school districts in Vermont, so to lead this district is a big important job.”